Public - The Museum of English Rural Life

Are We There Yet?

All aboard for a story telling journey like no other! This Refugee Week join us for our pop-up tour along the GWR line bringing theatre, music and comedy to unexpected places. This travelling celebration explores this year’s impactful theme: Community As A Superpower. We’re conjuring a world less hostile – one story, one stop at […]

Creating Communities

May Day pageant involving school children, dancing around the maypole

This student exhibition explores how communities express themselves and connect with each other. Explore the social history of craft, celebrations, and oral traditions. See how communities, form, develop, and collaborate. Reflect on what makes your community unique and question what heritage means to you.

Forty Farms – Behind the Scenes

Forty Farm exhibition boards in the MERL garden

Join Forty Farms photographer Amy Bateman for an evening of relaxed conversation and drinks in the garden, highlighting the stories behind the exhibition.

NISSEN

Step inside a recreated Nissen hut. Listen to stories from people who lived in or came across these huts, and leave your memories.

Paint, Pencil, Print

In 2025, the University of Reading Art Collection celebrates its 10th birthday! Join us for a special showcase of iconic and innovative artworks, highlighting the growth and evolution of the art collection over the past ten years. Showing in the Upper Staircase Hall. Image credit: Robert Gillmor, Peewit and Son, linocut on paper, UAC/11171. © […]

Romany & Traveller Heritage Day 2025

Attend the opening of our newly-curated GRT gallery, The Long Road Meet special guests and community experts. From the Romany and Traveller Family History Society, to award-winning poet Dr Jo Clement Delve into the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller artefacts and archives in the Robert Dawson Romany Collection Bring a picnic, enjoy live music in the [...]

The Global Second World War: Conflict and Beyond

Wojtek the bear. Image courtesy of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum.

Join us for a fascinating workshop to mark and explore multilingualism, cultural diversity and the global impact of the Second World War, with a focus on Polish experiences. This workshop is delivered in partnership with The National Archives (TNA) as part of Second World War: Languages, cultures, and legacies. This programme commemorates the 80th anniversary [...]

University of Reading MA Fine Art: Spring Exhibition

Explore artworks by MA Fine Art students at the University of Reading, responding to the Museum of English Rural Life collections.

Pandora Unboxed

Egg tempura painting of Pandora. She is surrounded by other characters also from Greek Mythology.

In Greek mythology, Pandora allowed all evil into the world after accidently opening a box. But is there a way that she can also be unboxed? This exhibition features new artworks created by young Reading artists who were responding to the myth of Pandora, as depicted in a historic painting from the Collection. Showing in […]

Monthly Gallery Tours – May

Curator of MERL Collections, Dr Ollie Douglas, will be joined by a different specialist for each of these monthly tours. Together they will take visitors on a short conversational guided trip through the galleries approaching our collection from a different perspective that reflects the guest speaker’s expertise, ensuring you’ll learn something new every time. Each […]